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Travelling on TBA from Lobos to Once: a virtual trip on the FC Sarmiento In the eighties the suburban railways in the Buenos Aires area were in poor shape. Therefore, the government decided to privatise them. For this purpose, a call for tenders was made, amongst others for the Mitre and Sarmiento lines. Out of a consortium of bus operators the Consorcio Metropolitano de Transporte (Cometrans S.A.) emerged with the purpose to win such tenders. With the new designation "Trenes de Buenos Aires S.A." the group gained the tenders of the Mitre (from Retiro station) and Sarmiento lines (from Once station). Most tourists will probably know the Mitre lines, as these go to Tigre where boat trips can be taken. The Sarmiento lines are less known. They consist of an electric line (with third rail power pickup) to Moreno from where diesel trains go to Lujan and Mercedes, and a branch line from Merlo to Lobos. In addition, there is a diesel railcar service from Puerto Madero through the tunnel of a former carbon transport line which joins the other lines shortly after Once station and follows them as far as Castelar, a kind of luxury service; these vehicles have air conditioning, heating, carry only seated passengers, offer free newspapers and background music; these trains only stop at Ramos Mejia and Haedo whilst all the other trains stop at all stations. To avoid accidents at the numerous level crossings, it is planned to put the line between Caballito and Moreno underground, and this is to happen in three stages and will take about three years from the start in early 2008. In addition, the signalling system between Once and Liniers shall be renewed, with control from the joint signal cabin 7 at Retiro station. The electric service has a length of 36 km and counts 266 trains per day with an interval of 6 minutes. In addition, there are 25 trains per day from the underground station Once/Miserere, situated between the tracks of the old and venerable subway line A, and which after a short tunnel run parallel with the other lines as far as Caballito and there the tracks merge with the main line. They operate as far as Castelar with an interval of 34 minutes. From Moreno to Lujan there are 14 trains per day with an interval of about 60 Minutes to Las Heras, and of these on weekdays 11 trains per day, also with an interval of about 60 minutes, to Mercedes. On the line to Lobos there are on weekdays 10 trains with an interval of about 60 minutes as far as Las Heras and of these 8 trains with an interval of about 120 minutes to Lobos. In total, these diesel lines have an extension of 157 km. The Diferencial service Puerto Madero - Castelar has a length of 26 km. In total, 41 stations serve the passengers in the western part of the Capital (the district is called Capital Federal) and in 10 communities in the larger area Gran Buenos Aires. On the electric line there are exclusively Toshiba MU trains from the fifties of which several hundred were modernised by Morrison Knudsen, an American firm, in the nineties. On the diesel lines operate partly motor coaches, so called Camellos from Materfer, and mainly locomotives, mostly a Spanish ALCo RSD.39 with passenger coaches. Thomas Hollenstein has photographed the trains on the journey from Lobos to Once. All photographs date from 2005, and 2008 (locomotive train).
Remark 1: Between Emp. Lobos and Lobos operate trains of the former TMR (today UGOFE/LGR) from Constitución to Saladillo and General Alvear. These are often operated by the small Nohab diesel cars from Portugal (so-called "Nonos"). On the same line also goods trains of the Ferro Expreso Pampeano FEPSA are operated. Remark 2: The line Temperley - Haedo was originally part of the Sarmiento lines with the same track gauge of 1676 mm. After privatisation the line was operated by Metropolitano as line 9 which - together with the metre gauge lines from Buenos Aires station and Puente Alsina, both ex Belgrano Sur - were bundled under "Belgrano Sur" although the two systems which are crossing each other do not have a physical connexion and only meet each other at separate stations with different names for each line where passengers can change trains. After the transfer to UGOFE the line is now to be found under Gral. Roca. Remark 3: View of the crossing track in the direction of Temperley. Quite in the background of the view the terminal station Haedo of the UGOFE/LGR line Temperley - Haedo. After crossing the Sarmiento lines of TBA the track in the opposite direction (at the back of the photographer) leads to the workshops of ALL Central. In earlier times a branch line of the Buenos Aires al Pacífico S.A. railway went on to Caseros where it crossed the FC Mesopotámico S.A. (from F. Lacroze, today ALL Mesopotámico), and then continued to M. Coronado where it reached the main line of the Buenos Aires al Pacífico S.A. railway line which today is used by the UGOFE/LSM (San Martin) line from Retiro to Pilar. It is not known whether there was ever passenger traffic on this connecting line A useful overview map with all the railways in the Buenos Aires area can be found under http://www.cnrt.gov.ar/mapasferro/indexmapa.html. When on this web page, choose in the left-hand frame "Buscar por Nro Mapa", then "47 Metrop.General", then "ingresar". To print out use the field "imprimir" at the bottom of the map.
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